Nvidia says Android tablets have arrived

SAN FRANCISCO—Google Inc.'s Nexus 7 tablet is not a less expensive alternative to Apple Inc.'s iPad, but the best realization yet of a tablet with the potential to tap the millions of Android users worldwide, according to Jen-Hsun Huang, president and CEO of chip maker Nvidia Corp.

"The Nexus 7's value proposition is not to be a cheaper iPad," Huang said. "It's to be a peripheral or a companion device for someone who is really invested in the Android operating system."

Previous Android tablets have failed to catch on in a major way. But Huang said the Nexus 7 is the first to make it really easy for Android users to enjoy all of the content and applications they have invested in for their Android smartphones on a device with a larger, high-resolution screen.

"I think it's taken this long to really build a platform that adds value to Android users," Huang said. "It's not an alternative to the iPad—it's really a device that enhances the user experience for someone who is an Android user. And there happens to be hundreds of millions of Android users."

Huang's comments came on a conference call with analysts Thursday (Aug. 9) following Nvidia's strong second quarter financial report. The company reported sales and earnings for the quarter and gave third quarter guidance that exceeded analysts' expectations.

Analysts and gadget enthusiasts have speculated on the potential of Nexus 7 tablet to break the iPad's strangehold on the tablet market. The iPad held 66 percent share of the tablet market last year and is projected to have 61 percent market share this year, according to a recent report by Canaccord Genuity.

Nvidia's Tegra 3 is the applications processor in Nexus 7, which was announced in June and began shipping last month. It is the first tablet to use version 4.1 of Android, nicknamed Jelly Bean.

According to Huang, the Honeycomb version of Android which ran the first Android tablets was actually very different from the Android phone OS at the time. Jelly Bean and its predecessor, Ice Cream Sandwich, are designed to run both tablets and smartphones and make it much easier to seamlessly share content and applications between devices, Huang said.

Huang said Nvidia notched design wins in 60 or more Android tablets during their first 18 months of existence, none of which caught on in a meaningful way. It took that time to get the cost, functionality and quality of experience of Android tablets to get where it needs to be, he said.

"I am really excited about the fact that the positioning of Android tablets is really starting to resonate with the market place," Huang said. "If you have an Android phone, you go get yourself an Android tablet, and all of your content just shows up."

Huang said he expects the tablet market to continue to offer more potential for Nvidia's Tegra applications processors than smartphones, where the company has about 2 percent market share, according to Canaccord Genuity.

Nexus 7 is half of the price of Apple iPad. Not really!
Well! If the cheaper iPad is used to go against the price of Nexus 7. Yet, this is not an Apple to Apple comparison. The LCD resolution of Nexus 7 is 1280x800 while that of iPad is 2048x1536. Nexus 7 does NOT support any cellular technology. iPad has a version that is equipped with cellular module. It cost $629. So, the comparison of Nexus 7 and iPad (WiFi only version) sounds about right. However, Nexus 7, according to specification, has equipped with a GPS; iPad (WiFi only version) doesn't. So, what're we comparing here?
I believe Google build Nexus 7 because of the inspiring of Amazon Kindle Fire. Kindle Fire has proven a market, the market of smaller tablet. It isn't just smaller. It has different form factor. Yet, the mobility isn't really important to certain extent. The tablet is just used in an indoor environment - home, cafe, library.
Google wouldn't just do a remake of Kindle Fire. It adds GPS in it. The addition of GPS makes Nexus 7 to be useful on the road. User can download apps that enable Nexus to show direction and map while it is not connected. Nexus 7 will come handy when you are traveling out of town. If you are walking around in Mountain View, CA, you definitely feel good holding a Nexus 7. Mountain View wouldn't be the only city. You will find Nexus 7 really useful in any city that has WiFi widely deployed.
There is no doubt that Google is trying to prove to the manufacturers that Android device can be built in a reasonably low cost. Nexus 7 may just be a reference design like Nexus One. The evolution of it will be up to vendors. How market is responding will be up to consumers.

I wouldn't say Google. I think the price is managed by the vendors - Motorola and Samsung. The conventional wisdom is if you can sell your product with the same price of competitor does, why bother lowering it. Apparently, they don't sell as well as the vendors hoped. Yet, do we know the reasons?

The design of iPad is elegant...no doubt about it. Having experienced the quality of the display of the new iPad at the store, I was very much tempted to buy it. If Apple does something to lower the price a bit, I think many looking for a low budget tablet will change their mind to stretch a bit more to grab an iPad.

That analogy doesnt make any sense in this context. Google(wanted to)and tried selling Android tablets at the same price as of iPad. (Xoom and Galaxy Tab). But nobody wanted to buy. Amazon found out the max amount people are willing to spend on a non iPad tablet is 199. And thats how Nexus 7 came into existence.

Well, having two Android tablets in our family my opinion is that these tablets did not "catch on" because Android sucks. We have Android 3.1 running on them and it clearly is not a debugged easy to use operating system. Maybe rev 4 will make the trick (our machines are probably not upgradable, but we shall see), but so far Google s FAR behind both Apple and Microsoft as far as operating systems go.

Well, Toyota's value proposition is not to be a cheaper BMW. They products with different features and capabilities and prices.
If the Nexus was the first product, would people say "The iPad's value proposition is to be a higher featured Nexus"?

For more than a decade, since the launch of the iPod, we've heard some say that the key to Apple's success is not the products themselves, but the ecosystem it created (itunes, etc.). Now it seems we will see what the Android ecosystem can do in this regard.

Believable, sure. It's also interesting: Nexus 7 costs less than half what an iPad does, and conventional wisdom is that a product that does most of what the leader does for less than half the price would be compelling. But Huang's argument is that emulating the iPad is not a smart idea. And here he says Nexus 7 goes further.